Marc Marquez overshadows all to claim pole in #FrenchGP

2015-05-16 14:24
The final qualifying session of the Monster Energy Grand Prix sees Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) back in pole position for the third time this season. He was over half a second quicker than Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), with Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) left to take third place on the front row in Sunday's race.

The pole position changed hands several times during the final round, but Marquez dropped his time to 1'32.246 to take his third pole position of the year. The current World Champion clearly sees Lorenzo as a threat though: "In qualifying we used the best setup that we had found. We were lucky that the track was in good condition, which allowed me to ride normally. I am happy with pole position and tomorrow a tough race awaits us, because Jorge especially has a very good pace. We will try to be as close to him as we can!"

Lorenzo seems to agree, believing he can do better: "The conditions were difficult on the track, you have to be careful with slicks and stay confident. We were lucky on the last lap to have 99% of the track dry and I pushed quite a bit. It was a pity that I didn‘t ride any good laps and was slower than I was in FP3. I made a mistake in sector three and lost probably half a second, but I was lucky not to go outside of the track and ride a very good sector four, which put me on the first row.”

Dovizioso was satisfied with a front row start, but also believes he has more pace to extract: “The front row is fine and it is also very important because in MotoGP it’s always essential to start as far up the grid as possible. I could probably have been a bit closer to Marquez and try and go for pole, but in any case I set a good lap time”.

The second row will be headed by Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda). The Isle of Man based Midlander has remained among the fastest in the weekend's practice sessions. His position also places him as the best satellite rider, ahead of fellow countryman Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), who was sixth after leading FP2 on Friday.

Between Crutchlow and Smith, Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team) managed a creditable fifth. As we have seen in Free Practice, the rider is positively recovering after dislocating his shoulder during testing in Mugello.

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) will start seventh in the attempt to defend his lead in the championship standings. His main rivals, Marquez and Lorenzo, will start the race way ahead on the front row, so his chances will lie in choosing the right tyre and an aggressive initial push to avoid losing the front runners.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) continues his comeback after undergoing surgery to solve the problems in his right forearm. Tomorrow he starts from a respectable 8th on the grid and he appears happy with his pace: "This first qualifying session back has not gone badly. We could have gone a little faster but in the end I didn't quite manage it. The positive news is that today I am feeling a little better physically than yesterday and that's a good thing!”

The MotoGP action continues on May 17 at 09:40 local time with the warm up session. The race will commence at 14:00.


Alex Rins dreams of first Moto2™ victory

The Spanish rider will start from pole position in his fifth intermediate category race after a skintight battle with Alex Lowes' timesheets.

It doesn’t get any closer than this, as Rins and British Sam Lowes (Speed Up Racing) recorded the same lap time: 1:37.114. In this case, the second (and consecutive) fastest lap of each rider is taken into account as the deciding factor, and Rins won out. The qualifying session of the Moto2™ World Championship at the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France has left Alex Rins (Paginas Amarillas HP 40) in a very different position to that he faced after his unfortunate fall on the last lap of the Jerez GP just two weeks ago.

The Spanish rider has extensive experience on the French track, having finished on the podium there in his three appearances at the circuit as Moto3™ rider. Now, his first pole position in Moto2 comes in just his fifth outing in the championship.

The front row will be completed by two other Moto2 protagonists of 2015. Sam Lowes (Speed Up Racing) returns to the spotlight after a poor performance in Jerez, where he failed to score. This afternoon at Le Mans, he qualified second after equaling Rins’ lead time but losing out when it came to their second-best efforts.

Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) leads the championship in Moto2, heading to his home event with a cushion of 16 points. The Frenchman managed to grab a front row qualifying position at the very last moment, fending off defending World Champion Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) who will head up the second row.

Alongside Rabat and Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), the second row will be completed by Tom Luthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten). The Swiss rider has a good record at Le Mans, where he has won both in the 125 and Moto2 classes.

Luis Salom (Paginas Amarillas HP 40) heads up Row 3 as he celebrates his 100th World Championship Grand Prix start. A podium in Sunday’s race would only add to his century of starts. Just behind, the third row will consist of Xavier Simeon (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2), whose crash in Free Practice 3 limited his performance in qualifying. Beside the Belgian will be Spain’s Julian Simon (QMMF Racing Team), who won at the French venue in the 125 category in 2009.

Perhaps drawing particular attention is the show of Jonas Folger. The Team AGR rider, winner of the first and fourth Grands Prix in Qatar and Spain respectively, put in a masterful performance last time out in Jerez and may require some inspiration to do the same again on Sunday at Le Mans. At the same time, he will also be considering the championship situation.

The Moto2 action continues on May 17 at 09:10 local time with the warm up session, with the race due to start at 12:20.

Source: MotoGP

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